Roos on SEN this morning

[chuckie]

Paul Roos was on SEN this morning talking about Bradshaw, Tadhg & the younger players. Was very happy to get Bradshaw, wasn't sure about Tadhg and the younger players, was very out spoken about the drafting system.
He reckons that there is a huge gap from the under 18's comp to the seniors, he thinks that it should be change to under 19's so that way all there schooling would be over and that they would be able to train and play more regularly with their team.Question was asked of Currie and Johnston it sounded as if they are a fair way off getting a game

[ShockOfHair]

Thanks, Chuckie. I've heard Roos comment before that he thought the draft age was a year too young - just too hard to gauge kids physically and mentally. I think the NFL draft is a year older, which has also guided his thinking.

You'd expect him to be non-committal about Currie and Johnston at this stage. There's a whole off-season of training before them and we've just recruited tall forwards and rucks who'd almost certainly come in the team ahead of them.

[DST]

Good interview this morning, was very cagey about Kennelly as he didn't even acknowledge that a contract was on the table, just at the stage of waiting to her from Kennelly about his possible trip to Australia.

Probably means the decision is close and we will see him here soon announcing one way or the other at his Australian book launch.

I think he will take the 1 year incentive based contract and see what happens from there.

DST

[Xie Shan]

Don't think Tadhg's return is going to happen, somehow. Not that I really expected him to relocate halfway around the world twice in two years but it would be bloody tough to slot back into playing AFL again. But you never know!

[Sometimes]

I think the NFL draft is a year older, which has also guided his thinking.

NFL draft = out of high school for three years.
NBA draft = minimum of one year out of high school and 19 years old at end of calender year.

You can see huge merit in an U19 or even U21/U23 development league below the AFL. And while AFL players tend to retire in their early 30s (and therefore with a second-tier underage league may have shorter AFL careers), with greater physical development before entering the AFL we may see more players active into their mid-to-late 30s.

[Young Blood]

Article from SEN website re Roos interview

http://bit.ly/9C2Qm

[Chilcott]

Roos was right on the money with this.

Having previously been heavily involved with local football for many years and seeing kids go through the TAC cup, it is obvious most kids are just not ready to step up to AFL after under 18's.

If the TAC cup was at under 19 level, the gap between the AFL and TAC for the drafted kids would be considerably less.

My local footy comp has the same problems. Many kids finish the under 18's, but don't progress to senior footy as they don't see themselves ready to play against men. A few may come back to senior footy 2 to 3 years later, but most don't.